According to Google, the new ad format will provide “visually rich, compelling experiences online” focused on generating engagement with the objective of creating a conversation. Consumers are given the ability to “reshare a video, leave a comment or a question for the brand, or even join a live Hangout”.

The video doesn’t cover the process of converting a piece of content into a +Post Ads, but Google said it should only require “a few clicks”.

As for the device compatibility, it appears in the video shown above that the +Post Ads will be compatible with desktops, tablets and mobile devices. We included a few visuals below to illustrate how Google plans on displaying the ads on these devices:

+Post Ads on Desktop:

On a website part of the display network:

Once you click the +Post Ad:

A better look at the +Post Ad once clicked:

+Post Ads on Tablet:

+Post Ads on Mobile:

Google Display Network & +Post Ads

As previously mentioned, the +Post Ads will run on Google Display Network, and we actually think that it could be quite a game changer, here is why.
Google Display Network has grown significantly this year, reaching a 26.3% increase in the first quarter according to Nielsen. The Display Network is known to be effective in raising brand awareness and increasing the brand exposure. However, a common critic of the network is that the click-through-rate (CTR) is notoriously low, often below 0.1% according to Mashable. Although these metrics date from a couple of years ago, no study has highlighted a higher click-through-rate ever since.
This is where the Google +Post Ads could be a real improvement for advertisers. The new ad format is much richer in terms of content and conveys a lot more information, which could be quite effective in improving the click-through-rate. The fact that comments, +1 and shares are displayed also provides social proof to the content, which builds trust.

But in our opinion, the +Post Ads could be most effective if paired to a remarketing campaign on the display network. Why? Because, you would only target previous visitors of your website who have already shown interest in either your brand or your products or services, the engagement would most likely be much higher. Let’s just hope Google plans on integrating the two.

How to use the +Post Ads

Although it is a little bit early to speculate on the best practices of using the new Google +Post Ads, we can already foresee different types use cases. As seen with Toyota in the presentation video, the +Post Ads seem to be very relevant when it comes to product announcements, allowing you to get instant feedback and to measure the audience's overall sentiment. The integration with Google Hangout also seems to offer a lot of possibilities when it comes to promoting an event. Also, to fully leverage the capabilities of the new +Post Ads and to optimize the chances of engaging your audience, rich media such as video will most likely be more appealing than images. Get in touch with us if you want to discuss the possibilities of using the +Post Ads and want to strategize ahead of the launch.

Google +Post Ads Performance

The +Post Ads are currently only available to “a select group of partners”, including Toyota USA, RITZ crackers and Cadbury UK. Google hasn’t shared many performance results yet, but we already know that the +Post Ads provide a 50% higher “expansion rate”. The expansion rate refers to the frequency with which people put their mouse over the ad for over 2 seconds in order to expand it. Although this metric shows that people interact with the ad, it doesn’t provide any insights in terms of click-through-rate or post-click conversion, which prevents us from being able to properly assess the value of this new ad format.

Google +Post Ads Launch

Although the +Post Ads are currently available to a few advertisers only, you can sign up for the beta test and you might be able to play around with the new ad format early. Remember that you need to have an Adwords and a Google+ account to be able to use the +Post Ads. Google announced that “over the next few months, [Google will] collect feedback from brands and users, and plans to open this format up to additional advertisers”, so there is no official launch date yet.

We will keep you posted on the launch date of the new +Post Ads, as well as any news that are related to it. We will also revisit the topic once it is available to everybody to have another look at the performance and the best practices. In the meantime, let us know what you think of the +Post Ads, either in the comment section below, or on our Facebook or Twitter pages.

I try to do my own research and talk to other IT professionals, but it’s always good to get that expertise applied to your own specific situation. I found the discussions we had with Smartt really useful, especially around how we could make our systems more secure and robust.